Lauren Bateman teaches Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" with three chords (C, F, G) and a simple down-down-down-up-down strum pattern. The verse and chorus use the same progression, and the bridge repeats C with eighth-note strums.
Questions this video answers
C, F (or F major 7 as an easier alternative), and G.
C, F, C, G, followed by C, F, C, then a split measure with G (2 beats) and C (2 beats).
Down, down, down, up, down (counted as "1, 2, 3 and 4").
G chord for beats 1–2 (down, down), then C chord for beats 3–4 (down, up, down).
Mostly down-strummed eighth notes (1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &), primarily on C for four measures, then G for two beats and C for two beats.
Chapters
Hello, guitar enthusiast Lauren Bateman here. And in this lesson video we're going to be going over Lean On Me by Bill Withers.
What we'll be doing is learning how to play and strum the verse, the chorus and the bridge section of this song. So let's get started. So first let's talk about the chords in this song. There's only three chords. There's a C chord, a G chord, and there is an F chord. And since this is a beginner version, if you don't know how to play barre chords yet, that's okay. You can always use the F major 7, which is an easier version of an F chord. It's also much easier to go from C to the F major 7. All you have to do is move two fingers. So if you're a beginner, I would recommend using that F for this song. Now let's talk about the chord progression for the verse and the chorus. Because they're the same, they just repeat. So most of these chords are one measure, meaning they're going to have four beats. And our chord progression is C, F, C, G followed by C, F, C. And then the very last measure is a, G and C chord between two brackets. It means the G chord is going to be two beats and the C chord is going to be two beats as well. And then it just repeats that for the chorus. So once we learn the verse, congratulations, you've already learned the chorus. So let's get into the strumming and what we're going to do for this chord progression. As a side note, if you need the chord chart for this song, you can always go to my website. I'll put a link in the description below. And also if you're interested in learning a quick little single line intro part to this song, I'll put the link for that below this video too. So, so the strumming pattern we're going to use, we're going to keep it very, very simple for you guys here because this is a beginner lesson. And let's just start with a C chord here. And yes, if you know my two fingered C chord, you can go ahead and use that. If you know the full C chord, go right ahead and use that too. Now what we're going to do is.
We'Re just going to do 1, 2, 3 and 4.
That's it.
And it's going to be down, down, down, up, down again. So we have down, down, down, up, down, 1, 2, 3 and 4.
If I show you what that sounds like, I'm Going to play a C to an F chord.
It'll be 1, 2, 3, and 4. Switch to F, 2, 3, and 4.
Back to C, 2, 3, and 4.
And G, 2, 3, and 4.
Very briefly, let's talk about that split measure here in the verse. So we have a G chord followed by a C chord. So the G chord is going to.
And that's how we're going to apply the strumming pattern to that split measure. And obviously with the song, it's going to go a little bit faster than that. But that is the essential strumming pattern you can use from the beginning of the song to the end until we get to the bridge section. We're going to spin, spice it up just a little bit when we get there. So let's check out that bridge section right now. So in this bridge section, the chord progression changes up a little bit. We have a lot of C chords. So basically we have four measures of C followed by a half measure of G and a half measure of C. And what we're going to do, we're just going to do down strums. We're going to do eighth note down strums, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And so it'll sound like this.
So just call Army Brother when you need a hand we all need somebody 2, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.
And so here we're just doing all.
Eighth notes, 1 and 2 and 3 and four and.
And when I'm strumming with my strumming hand, I'm not strumming the entire length of the strings. I'm only hitting maybe two or three strings at the most, giving us a very rich, dark sound to the chord. So let's just talk about that split measure real quick. So G is going to be two beats, just like in our verse, and.
It'S going to be 1 and 2.
And then the C is going to.
Be 3 and 4 and.
All right, one more time.
G. 1 and 2 and. And then back to C, 3 and 4 and.
And these are all down strums. If you guys enjoyed this lesson, make sure to leave me a comment below and make sure to like the video. Also, don't forget to subscribe to the video. I have lots of other great beginner guitar songs. So if you want, go ahead and click on to another video and keep learning how to play some easy songs with me.
